The Messengers

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

[clink] [clink] Pickaxe. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah, you're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you don't gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. It's your first job? I know what I'm doing. I'm a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators, rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+. This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else.

Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Only on Peacock. Howdy folks. This episode of Dungeons and Randomness is brought to you by Jason Massey and myself. And obviously, the lovely cast of D&R. But for the purposes of this ad, I'm going to focus on the two of us and a couple of the sideshows we do, called Good Morning Theria and The Buffy Breakdown. Good Morning Theria is a talk show that some of you early adopters might remember used to be housed here on the D&R feed as a show where Jason and I kind of yabber on about comic books, fan culture, internet outrage, whatever else crosses our mind that week, as well as read emails from listeners.

And you may have believed that it had completely disappeared, but that is not the case. GMT is now in a new home, and if you search for Good Morning Theria in your podcast service of choice, you should be able to locate us and continue to enjoy our incessant rambling. And while you are doing that search, if it tickles your fancy, you might want to check out The Buffy Breakdown, a show where my sister Jamie Lee from Group B, our lovely DM Jason and myself, are sitting down to discuss every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is a show near and dear to all of our hearts.

We are just about out of season one now, and you have just enough time to catch up before the show actually starts getting good. Thank you so much for checking those out, thank you double-E-so for giving Dungeons & Randomness a listen right now, and without further delay, on with the show. Previously for Group C, after being ejected from the Oasis Casino and on a call, the group continued to help out Poe with odd jobs around the city, one of which was dealing with a group of old Overwatch sympathizers who had taken up residence at the Golden Circle Tavern.

The old Overwatch members had been harassing people, and after the group got them arrested, they did battle in the arena with Gar, as one more favor to Poe. The team won their bout, but sadly afterward, Kaluna decided that it was time to leave the group. They'd been getting a bad feeling about home, and simply couldn't shake it. Deciding not to put the rest of the group in jeopardy, after saying goodbye, they left on a caravan heading north, to the Silver Glade. Let's do that thing! Where we go around the table to introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master, going around the table starting with Jasper.

Oh hey, this is Jasper. I play Maric, Ethelred, Human Cleric. And Lisa. Hey, I'm Lisa and I play Elorath Beestinger, the Halfling Barbarian. And Zach. What's up, my name is Zach and I play Avalon Bates, the Human Fighter. And Marie. Hi guys, I'm Clara Ureth Dale and she is a fighter half-drow. And Chipper Jane. Hi guys, I'm Jane, I play Efene, the Gnome-Bod. Yay! How was that? Very chipper, I'm feeling it. It radiates through the microphone. Excellent. [Laughter] Here's what I want to do. I want a little bit of time to pass. Not much time, like a day, day and a half.

So let's pick things up on the 28th of Yesti. Now, Kaluna left on a little caravan heading out of Onakal, heading north. So, for the most part, they're going to be safe because the caravans that head in and out of here are fairly regular in that there's usually two to three going at any given time. And obviously it takes time to get through the desert, but these are expert navigators that pretty much know the safest route through the desert. Obviously they go out with plenty of food and water and they would probably be a lot more prepared for the journey than you guys were getting here.

So that is a worry that's pretty much off your plate at the moment. That being said, how would everyone be feeling? Again, it's like a day and a half later. It's midday somewhere in there. You guys are still kicking around the city. Probably well rested. Yeah, I think Aveline would be feeling curious. He knows Kaluna is gone. I don't think he was told the exact reason why, but he's curious to what happened. He's also curious to explore the city a bit more. I think they've been cooped up for a couple days trying to recover from the fight. So he kind of wants to explore.

Yeah, that's another thing. After the fight, obviously there'd be tons of fanfare and stuff. And you guys would be fairly popular within the city. There'd probably be people asking questions about you. It's like, where did you come from? Why are you here? That type of thing. Are you here to fight in the arena full time? Because you probably would have been spotted around the casino and then in the Coliseum and then just probably around town. So you're starting to get a name for yourselves here. Marketing. Famous. Like Zach said, it sounds like you guys want to kick around the city.

Essentially, I guess I'm asking, what's the goal? What do you feel like doing right now? Well, I think this is probably obvious, but Merrick is probably going to feel a little aimless and a little just off kilter since Kaluna is gone. Probably not openly or outwardly distraught or anything like that, but just a little bit like, yeah, whatever you guys want to do. Probably just kind of looking for somebody to make the decisions a little bit. Exploring is probably just like, whatever, let's just hang out, see what's in this place. Elorath, would you want to go back to Po and like, kind of tell them what's up and see if anything else strikes him as something we can help with?

Yeah, I feel like Elorath would want to check in with him and probably go back to the temple like at least once a day, probably. Not to annoy anybody, but just to be like, "Hi, I'm here." And just like pay respects and stuff, but yeah, she would want to talk to Po and just be like, "Hey, so what is up? What you got going?" And you know what? I think this would be a really interesting thing to do. Elorath, do me a favor, give me a flat d20 roll. Oh goodness. Yeah! Nice, I like that. Say it out loud. Somebody say it, make it real, say it. Say it! I rolled a nat one.

So, okay. Here's what I would say. In the last couple of days, like day and a half somewhere in there, I'd say you check in with Po and he would tell you, it's like, "Uh, yeah, everything's on fire. Here's what's going on." And there is everything from minor burglaries to larger scale stuff that they're still investigating. Basically, every time you talk to him, let's say you talk to him two or three times a day, because there are problems that you guys could handle pretty effectively. So, for example, you walk into a town with a large group of well-outfitted adventurers.

And to be honest, when you walk into a city, I'd say 75% of the townspeople are people like bakers and just regular folks walking around in just plain clothes. So the five of you walking up to someone that is being questioned in a burglary or something like that, you could probably solve that problem pretty quickly. Either like, "Hey, get back the stuff you took," or "We suspect you of a crime," something like that. These are problems that you could solve pretty quickly. There are a couple of mid-tier crimes. So, okay, there's this statue in Onakol that was erected to honor the Rasha bar knights.

And yeah, it's a really nice thing. And someone kind of vandalized it a bit. What? And that was a problem that was on your plate. I'd say that you probably within a few hours kind of figured out who did it and why. And the way I figured it, it's... Remember the guys you dealt with in the bar? Oh, yes. These guys have proven to be a nuisance. Just a flat-out nuisance. They walked into town and they hate everyone. They don't like that it's essentially an Aladrin-run city. They don't like that it's hot as hell. They're basically in hiding. And they're just very unhappy with the entire situation.

I would like you to do me a favor. And I would like you to roll an investigation check. One of you. Doesn't matter who. I would vote not Eloraf. I have a plus two. I've got a plus three. Go for it. Okay. Right. I'll do it. I got a 13. Okay. Lucky 13, like everyone says. Yeah. So I would say that you guys piece together enough stuff that you not only track down the individuals who did this, but you can link them to the crime, right? There's enough evidence to support this. And as a result, they're going to be ejected from the city. Yay! And there was much rejoicing.

Oh man, they are completely irate about this too. And they are sent on their way. Bags packed with no caravan. Oh, they're being dumped to death. Okay. Yeah, enjoy it. And that is a penalty in Onakol that it's like, yeah, we're not going to kill you. We're not going to hurt you or incarcerate you, but you have to leave. Goodbye. Good day, sir. Like that's basically it. You'll be dead by the end of the day. Right. I mean, good luck. I guess I'd fill up your canteens before you go. Jesus. Wow, that's hardcore. That's a really harsh punishment. Okay. So to give you an idea about these guys, they have done the following since getting here.

Harassing the local clientele, harassing tourists, vandalizing public property. And on top of that, it has been suspected that they have stolen things from either tourists or citizens, but they can't link them to that. They can't prove it. But it's like, okay, look, things have started going missing in the general vicinity of you guys since you've arrived. We know it's you, but we can't prove it. How many people are in this little group, by the way? I think they had six, right? Yeah. If you're talking, oh, you're talking about the old Overwatch dudes? Yeah.

Yes. Six. That's it. Just asking. All right. Okay. Okay, cool. So we're like, I don't know what we're like, but we help people. We do things and some of those things turn out to be good for people. And/or death for others. We're like the sheriffs from Tombstone. Yeah, I was gonna say, we're like little deputies. Yeah. Yay. We're good guys. They're dead. We're good guys. If you were to check in with Poe on the 28th, about midday, I think he'd fill you in on all that. Like, okay, let's say that you guys have a spot that you meet, probably the bar. And this is his office, basically.

And because he knows you guys were kicked out of the casino, he would probably meet you at the Golden Circle, just like, hey, let's go to the patio. Let's just chill out there. The sun's out, as it pretty much always is. It's a desert, you know? It sucks. And he'd have you guys meet at a table and have a seat. And he would fill you guys in on everything that happened with that group, how they were, you know, drummed out of the city, they're gone, and that's thanks to you guys. So he'd probably start off with a big thank you. After ordering a round of drinks for everybody, because you guys have helped him immensely since coming to own a call, he would start by saying, "So I've been doing some thinking, and I think I might be taking off pretty soon." Oh.

Where are you gonna go? Well, I was actually thinking about heading west and meeting up with an old friend. Why? And I'd say he's kind of like doing that thing where you you rub the condensation off your drink, just like fiddling with something, just, you know. The last time we spoke it didn't go so well. She's really busy and it pretty much devolved into us blaming each other and ourselves for Bree. Are you going to go to Overdale? He's gonna nod. Yeah. Is it something we said or did? I mean, you've been here for a while, we did here and you're gonna take off.

Yeah, you seem to kind of settled. Well, again, I appreciate all your help, but this place has never felt like home. It's been a place to hide, to be honest. For a long time, I think I... I think I feel like I wasted a large part of my life. And he's going to look at Elorath specifically. Maybe that isn't the case. It's been nice to talk to someone who just wants to help other folks just for the hell of it. She's going to kind of like give like a half smile because she's a little embarrassed, just like, "No." And he's going to try and quickly change the subject.

So what about you? You guys seem to be pretty settled here. You setting up shop? Clara's going to look over to Elorath and kind of... her gaze is just as questioning like, "Yeah, what is the plan?" Because in her head, they're kind of done here. And the only reason they've really stuck around is because Po has been giving them these tasks. Yeah, I feel like Elorath would be looking right back at her and looking at everybody else because it was like, we came here to get her fixed, for lack of a better term, feeling better. And then we were helping out and now it's like, "Huh." Bethany's going to be looking at Elorath like, "Oh god, no, let's not settle here.

It's too hot." And Po would, if there's just an exchange of looks, for the most part, Po would probably interject, "They always have something going on here. So I'm sure that if you wanted to, you could find pretty steady work." Clara's gonna make kind of a sound. This is like, right on the same boat as Efthne. It's hot here. The sun is always out. It's miserable for her. I mean, the air conditioning is nice. The magic air conditioning, that's fucking cool as shit, but like... Haha. Ahh, fuck you. What does Avalon think? I think Avalon, definitely during the exchange of looks, if no one else says anything, he's going to say, "Well, I don't think we have a purpose here anymore.

We've cured Elorath. I think we have other problems elsewhere." Merrick's just kind of staring at his drink and looking at everybody else as they're talking. He's just being really super quiet. He'll nod at Avalon. He'll be like, "Yeah, in a way, this was kind of a detour, right? And really, it's as beautiful as it might be and as glamorous as it is. It's kind of the edge of the world. I don't know. Maybe there's stuff here, but I feel like maybe there's stuff elsewhere too. We could do some good." They kind of seem to have it all, except for a statue being vandalized and a couple of petty thieves.

"I kind of feel like the Eladrin have it kind of under control, mostly. Maybe we could do more somewhere else." Po's going to chime in. I had a feeling you might say that. Well, I have a couple of things for you because you've been such a huge help. I wanted to try and repay that. He's going to take an envelope out of his jacket pocket, and he's going to slide it over to Merrick. Merrick is going to stare at it for dramatic purposes for a few seconds, and he's going to pick it up and, still eyeing it, he's just going to tap it on the table. He's just being super pensive.

This is super pensive Merrick time. He's going to look up and look around at everybody's eyes and just sort of meet everybody's eyes, just to see if anybody wants to say anything at all. If not, he's just going to shrug and then open up the envelope. So in the envelope is going to be a few things printed on a piece of paper. One is the name "Jurman Halbeck." Specifically Archmage Jurman Halbeck. And this person's location, which is in Uminero. And at the bottom of the page, Poe has written all this down, and he goes into a very brief description that this Archmage's main source of study is curing diseases and dabbling in curses.

And he kind of gives you a look from the other side of the table like, "I thought you might want to look into that." So Merrick is going to- Wow, he just outed you in front of the group. No, he gets- like it's fair. Like okay, here's the thing, that's why it's printed on a piece of paper. Yeah, nobody's heard this or seen this, right? Oh, it's just for Merrick. Oh, that's nice. He's nice. Yeah, totally. Merrick is going to- he's going to realize that he didn't- he had not been breathing while he was reading that. Like as he sort of pieced it together. So he's gonna- [deep breath] Oh man, you're opening up so many cans of so many worms.

He's gonna slip the paper back into the envelope and he's going to sort of lift it up and shake it a little bit and he's gonna go, "I really appreciate this. I think I kind of needed that, so thanks." And he's gonna kind of give you a half smile. Well, I've been sitting on that for a while. I had to look into it for a friend. [deep breath] So, when are you planning on like leaving? Well, I was thinking tomorrow. I'm wrapping things up with the council and I gave him my notice already. And he's gonna- he's gonna kind of touch his index finger to his head like, "Oh, I just remembered something." Speaking of which, one of the higher ranking members of the council would like to speak with you if you want to take one more job.

It would be outside the city, my understanding, and up north. Oh, okay. If like- if Elaar has to be like, "Okay, I mean, yeah, like kind of questioning, sure." And he'd hold up a hand. There's no pressure. It's, uh, I think they're looking for someone to send a message. Hmm. Can't hurt to talk to anybody, right? I mean, I don't know- this is a question for you, Jason. I can't remember if this was discussed or if this was assumed or whatever. Are we getting any sort of compensation for the help that we're giving for Poe? Like, are we amassing any sort of like- Oh, yes!

Spending money? I can't remember if we talked about it. That is something I wanted to talk about toward the end of this conversation. But yes, because of- firstly, because of everything that you've done. One, any debt that you had was wiped clean with the whole casino thing. All that's been smoothed over. Everything's fine. For your work in- for your work in the arena, that was a huge, like a huge help to him and all that. Each of you would be receiving 100 gold. Ooh! Nice! That ain't bad. Not at all. Okay, cool. I mean, I wasn't trying to be greedy, but I did want to make sure that we had something, you know- Just if we show for it, yeah.

Like, doing good deeds is nice, but getting a reward for some of that, you gotta earn a living. I just wanted to make sure that if we go somewhere else, that we're not, like, homeless for the first couple of days, you know? So this is midday, right? Still- Yeah. Yep. Okay, um. Well, listen, if you're planning on leaving tomorrow, Merrick's gonna be looking around. He's really tentatively saying all this, 'cause he's- he just wants to see what everybody else is thinking. I mean, you know, safety in numbers, right? Do you feel like- could we at least sort of caravan together as we get out of this place?

Can we hitch a ride, Poe? Yeah, I mean, at least to the first fork, you know? And then after that, you know, we're on our own, but- Yeah. Yeah, he would- It sucked getting here. Right, yeah. And that's what I'm going for, is I really don't want to do that again. Please, please, if you know what you're doing, I want to go- I feel like the look on his face would be like, 'Uh, yeah, of course, that's suicide to go out into the desert by yourself.' What kind of fucking moron would- We know that now. We know that now. Yeah, it would be almost a panic, like, 'Yeah, duh, yeah, of course.' Okay.

Yay! Elaar's gonna, like, sit back relieved, 'cause that was kind of like what she was thinking too. Just like, 'When are you leaving? Maybe we could go with you.' Ah, okay. So we are on the same wavelength. Fantastic. And he would shake everyone's hands and, you know, just wish you guys all the luck in traveling, you know, wherever you're gonna go. And he would say that, 'If you ever find yourself out by Overdale, stop in and see him and Liara.' And, yeah. Yay! As he does that, though, as he would sort of be standing up, Merrick's going to lift whatever ale or beer or probably, like, a Cabernet that he'd be drinking.

He's gonna lift it for a toast. It's probably just beer with spit in it. That's Therian Cabernet. Well, 'cause you ordered that and then the bartender went, 'Ugh.' Yeah, that's true. Do you have a Cote d'Oron? Something maybe a Grenache? Do you have anything like a blend of any sort? I sure do. Turn around. Yeah, no, no, it's not even. It's like, 'Here's your ale. Drink it.' The whole group told Merrick to stop and he was just like, 'No, no, no. Everyone has something good.' 'Your finest beer with spit in it, please.' He's gonna lift it in a toast, though, and he's gonna say, 'Hey, come on, everybody.

One last thing.' And he's gonna lift it up and he's just gonna look at Poe. He's gonna sort of gesture at the envelope, too, with his eyes or, you know, just whatever. And he's gonna say, 'No life is wasted. No life is wasted, Poe.' Here, here. One more bit here. Poe would be drinking water, which is probably the first time you've seen him drinking water since you... I mean, that doesn't necessarily... Maybe he's just like, 'Wow, I'm dehydrated.' Right. From all the drinking I did earlier. I'm proud of him. But yeah, he's just going through a rough patch right now and it's probably nice to run into nice people just doing stuff for others, selflessly.

It's a good thing. So yeah, he would definitely toast to that. That's it. Presumably we got who we're supposed to talk to in the Council. Oh yeah. If we wanted to. Okay. Yeah, you are looking for someone named Jorvan Zareth. That's a male Aladrin. One of the higher Council members. Been around for quite a while. He would have given you the location of this guy's office and all that stuff. So, a few questions for you guys. You have that if you wanted to look into it. There's a caravan leaving tomorrow if you wanted to hitch a ride out of town. And then I guess my question would be, where do you want to go?

What do you want to do? If you're just hitting the road, getting out and about, do you want to wait and see what the Council member says? That's what I was going to say is the Council member is probably going to decide where we go next and then the letter will decide where we go after that. Sure. That sounds right to everyone? Yeah. I'm going to go up north, which probably means bright portish, maybe, like around that area, which is halfway to Onakol anyway. Not Onakol, Uminyero. I want to make sure it's clear. Nerec has not told anybody what's in that envelope.

Not yet. So if anybody wanted to be curious about that or if you wanted to just say like whatever, just wanted to make sure you knew that that wasn't something. He just kept that to himself. He did read it in React right in front of us, right? Yep. Okay. It was emotional. I feel like Clara would have seen that like, oh, that's an emotional thing. Ew. And just like not. Yeah. Evelyn definitely tilted his head at it. Yeah. So we'll see. Yeah. But like, yeah, we'll see. I'm sure someone will ask eventually. I'm imagining that might happen like in the caravan. Oh, yeah.

And I didn't mean you were supposed to. I just meant I wanted to make sure it was clear that Merec didn't say like, and also here's what it says, everybody. Also, I'm cursed, by the way, let's do this off screen because it's not an important scene. So I don't know. I would feel like everybody would I mean, might as well go talk to the council. I mean, if we're going to be taken off, might as well get a little bit of if not if not a little gold, then at least some karma, right? Hell yeah. So we can do it. So Onakol's layout is interesting in that you have the big glittering gem that is the Oasis kind of taking up a lot of real estate.

It looks pretty. It draws the eye. It is everything a great tourist trap is supposed to do. You have the streets littered with, you know, running water. It's it's it's a beautiful place, though you can see where a lot of the buildings in the in the lower quarter, let's call it, are cramped. They're right up next to each other. You get like four or five, six people sharing a small like what the equivalent of like a one bedroom house would be like there is there's a poorer section of the city. But the section you guys are heading to you would be marching right past that.

And you would be going to a much more comfortable part of the city. As you can imagine, with these council members and stuff like that they're not living in poverty. So if you got here, this place would have a couple of a couple of bouncers right outside the door to make sure that you know riffraff can't just walk in off the street. And they would ask you what you were doing here. And I imagine you you tell them. Yes. And they let you pass. They let you pass through. And there's this big open room. And there are a few a few Aladdin reading and and just just being when you walk in.

This place has an air about it. There are a lot of nice books. There are a lot of soft furniture like pillows stacked up and stuff. There's there's there's the Aladdin reading. And next to one of them in the back, there are two humans fanning this Aladdin. Jesus. Jesus fucking Christ. Is he also eating grapes? No, no grapes. But yeah, this is kind of opulent for the for the area. So long white hair. When you think Aladdin, this dude, very angular features to his face, razor sharp pointy ears, beautiful white and white and red with a little gold trim robes like just holy Lord.

And he would look up from what he's reading, paying no mind to the people fanning him. Stand up and walk over to the group almost almost floating, almost drifting. Can I help you in a slightly deeper voice than you kind of figured coming out of the sky because he looks so elegant. Can I help you? He is very much looking down his nose at the lot of you, but I want to kick him in the shins. Oh, OK. So Merrick real quick. So Merrick is going to this is total sarcastic mocking, but he's going to do it in such a very subtle way. Hopefully he is. Do you know that thing that that you can do this a little of an exaggeration where you put your your your fingers at your head and you say, good day to you, sir.

Oh, yeah. Like you like circle your fingers, you know. Oh, he's going to he's going to do that and bow a little bit. He's going to say so he's going to say, oh, Councilman Zareth. He's he's taking the group in, taking special care to look at Clara. Clara didn't take off her veil when she first came in. Like, you can still tell like her eyes are showing, but she's just like, I'm not dealing with this shit. Right. Left her veil on. And he's not disdain. It's just like fine. Disgust. Yeah. Just just kind of like I have to deal with you fine. Right back at you, fella.

Yes. We were asked to to speak to you from from Poe. To Tillo. Yes. Come in. You can have a seat if you like. Presumably we would all probably. Yeah. Plop right on. As he says that, I have just walks past him to a near seat. He's looking around this wonderlust because I'm sure there's there's something very nice hanging up on the walls. He's kind of looking at it, whatever it is. But he'll sit down for now. And he's going to lean against Avalon's share and keep her eyes on him. And he's when she when she does that, he's going to point to it like it's like an animal in the zoo.

Just pointing like, look at that. Yeah, this place will be decorated. Yeah. This place we decorated to the hilt to like, imagine the best way I could put is, you know, people who go camping, but they call it glamping. And it's just all these creature comforts that they shouldn't have out in the wilderness. You're in a desert city and it's just it is a beautifully decorated, meticulously kept. It sticks out when you walk in. It's like, whoa, OK, you got people fanning. It's just it's too much. So he's going to snap his fingers. And signal to everyone else besides the people fanning him, leave us, and they're going to get up and hurriedly just like exit the tent, tented like area.

They're just going to go. He is going to very gently lower his body into the chair he was sitting in. Poe says that you have a knack for taking care of problems. Is this true? Is he speaking to anybody in particular? Is he looking at anyone? Is he transfixed with anybody in particular? Oh, man, he would probably be talking to like I mean, he's addressing the group, but in the hierarchy, humans float right in the middle. Like, obviously, elves, elves would be like, yay, let's let's talk to an elf if I can. But humans are like, you'll do like you could take basic commands, right?

All right. Like a really smart dog. Right. I feel like Clara is going to clam up like as soon as she saw that he was like disgusted by her. She knew like, oh, I'm not speaking during this. Not like she's not standoffish. She's just like, oh, I'm going to shrink into the background because she's kind of she's been out in the world long enough to know it's just not worth it. Exactly right. Yeah, we we fixed a few problems. Seems like we've done some some good here. But the post says you might have something to be taken care of. Is that right? Quite. The fellow council members and I have reached a decision and we're looking for someone to take our message north to Brightport.

Do you think you could be able to do this for us? To take a message to Brightport. Maric's going to look over the rest of the group and he's going to look a little bit panicked and he's going to look back and say, I think so. And almost before you say, I think so. Excellent. Just like it was a no break. It's like you're going to. Yeah, of course. And he has this this rolled up scroll that he will hand over to Maric. Please don't open it. I'll tell you what it says. We are officially severing ties with the city of Brightport, specifically the houses of Brightport.

We will no longer be paying taxes. We will no longer be beholden to any of their wishes. We own the city outright. Oh, shit. And if you could deliver that message, that would be most helpful. Are there any rules we could make to see how much each of us would know about the situation between Brightport and history? History. Oh, I'm good at history. Why not? Holy shit. Hey, 21 buddies. We're friends. Yeah, I know everything. You've heard the word Brightport. Wow, Avalon. I've heard of Brightport and know what a house is. Yeah, I got this. Okay, so, Anthony, Clara and Avalon would know the following.

When Oniko was wiped off the map with the with the zombie stuff and all that like that they were they were gone the city basically started from scratch. The houses of Brightport got together, Dragonkeep kind of spearheaded the idea, but the idea was to get that city going again and change it up. It was a beautiful city we could do something new with it. It could be a trade destination and we would get our money back from anything we invested over time. When the Aladrin hit the scene again, they had no place to live. They were destitute. They had nothing. 100 years have passed.

The world had passed them by and Dagon essentially pitched it to Dragonkeep first and then, you know, they mix it up. It's like, okay, well, we need we need inhabitants for this new city and it's it's going to be slow going otherwise. So let the Aladrin live there. Let them build it up and let them, you know, help us build this tourist trap to get people to visit and and, you know, naturally trade will trade will start as a result and all that. Right off the bat, there were problems. The Aladrin don't like taking orders and they don't feel beholden to anybody, even if they were handed a city, a beautiful new city.

All the muck and goo was cleaned out of it and they were basically handed a new place to live. They don't feel like they owe anybody anything. They basically feel like they were owed. It's like, yeah, well, you took our old city and ruined it. Of course you should give us a new city. That's how they feel. So right off the bat, there were problems and it's pretty much escalated to the point you you guys are at now where they're done. They're seceding from the ownership of Brightport, basically. Dang. Okay, well, how? So that's pretty bold and of course, well deserved, Councilman.

Who should we be taking this to specifically? Well, I would imagine the houses. They're the ones who truly run that city. Claire's going to kind of glance up and she's sitting with like her elbows on her knees, not doing anything to try to show respect, which is a little bit weird for her because usually she does go out of her way to do that. But I think, you know, the glare from earlier soured her experience a little bit. Right. Shouldn't we have three copies then? He is going to narrow his eyes at Clara. I should have thought it beyond you to call a meeting and just share the news with them all at once.

Very well. I can have a second and third draft. Given to you within the day. Will that be sufficient? She's the glory of a veil is that Clara can be smirking and it's okay. But she'll just nod. He's going to lean forward. He's going to look. He's going to look dead at Clara. That's funny. I've already heard the stories of one drow, but you don't fit the description. It's just odd that we would have two in the city at once. You're not here to cause any trouble. Are you? There'll be like two or three beats of silence. And she'll meet his eyes. Don't worry, I'll be leaving soon.

He will kind of disengage with Clara and address the group. And wave his hand. Of course you'll be compensated for this. That's wonderful. Here's a question, Councilman. We'll be delivering these messages. Are you expecting a message in return? He's... The look on his face is almost like shaking his head like, "Why? Who cares?" But he's going to respond. They can respond with anything they like. The simple fact of the matter is this is happening. Whether they like it or not. Do we need to fear any recriminations from delivering this message for you? He's... He's gonna pause at that.

I don't foresee anything happening to you. The expression is "Don't shoot the messenger," isn't it? It is indeed, and that had better not be the case. And she's gonna have looked him dead in the eyes at that point. She doesn't care what he thinks of her. She's not bothered. He did not expect this many questions. He expected to give you a task, you take gold and go do it. That's it. That is as far as he figured this conversation would go. He figured he'd be back to reading by now. Are there any other problems with my simple request? No problems? How much gold?

He's going to take out a pouch and he's going to toss it at Marek. Okay, Marek's going to... I'm sure this is not what he would expect. He would expect Marek to take the pouch. Marek is going to open the pouch and start counting the gold. Oh, Jesus Christ. His mouth is going to go slack. That is the most uncouth thing. Marek is playing it like he's just curious. He's not like, "Let me count this and make sure it's enough." It's just more like, "Thank you," and he's going to start counting it. This is what I think about all the time when I'm on my bicycle here in New York City.

If somebody's behind me, I don't mean on a big road, I just mean wherever. If somebody's behind me and they honk for me to get out of the way, this never happens. I want it to happen. I want to just start going slower every time they honk. If they honk one last time, I'm just going to stop in the middle of the road and just tie my shoe or something like that. This is that kind of thing. I'm just taunting this dude by counting the gold. Not slowly, just fast enough. Again, mouth slack just watching you. There's 250 gold there. I'll save you the trouble of counting so high.

Oh, dick! Marek is going to audibly gasp and look at him and say, "250? Thank you, thank you." And he's going to stand up and gesture for everybody to, "Let's get out." Almost like, "I can't believe we've been graced with this." And we should leave his presence. He gets up immediately, follows the orders. He doesn't know what's going on. He can't tell it's sarcasm. Right. So you guys are leaving this guy behind and you're heading back out to the streets here. There's a few things on your plate. There's this message to deliver. How would you be feeling about the message?

How do you think that's going to go if you did it? I mean, you took the money. Yeah. Slightly worried. No, I think we had it right. No one's going to shoot the messenger, so we'll be fine. I'm not worried about that. We know people in Brightport. I feel like Clara's thought on it is, "That's way above my pay grade. I'll deliver the message." And then the political shit is up to the political people. Mm-hmm. At some point, Merrick would say, "I'm not saying we do this at all, but how much shit would it be for that dude if we just didn't give the message?" Right?

You know? What I would love to see him livid and not knowing what to say or do, but, "Okay, we'll deliver it." I'm not saying that, but anything to just piss him off. Right. That was beautiful in there, by the way, Merrick, with the counting the gold. Beautiful. Anything to piss him off. I'm telling you. Instant, instant hatred for this dude. But hey, you know what? It's fine. They want us to see. They don't want to be part of this. I get it. That's fine. And like you said, it's really not our place for the political stuff. It's above our pay grade. 250, though, right?

Not bad. Pretty good. So what time of day would this be? Are we sort of getting towards the end of the afternoon, maybe? Yeah, I'd probably say this is later afternoon. Merrick's going to say, "You know, anybody else hungry?" Yes. Yes, I am. Sure, I could eat. Because I have an idea. How about everybody go ahead and go back to the temple and I'm going to go pick up some stuff. That's not suspicious at all. Is anyone hungry? Cool. You guys go eat while I do something else. No, sorry. Sorry. Let me rephrase. Let me rephrase. Why don't you all head back to the temple?

It's our last night in Onokol, so it's been a while since I've been able to sort of put something together. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to do something nice for the temple as well. I mean, the reason we're here and the reason that we're all here, and he's going to look at Elorak, is kind of because of them. Maybe I could whip something up. What do you think? That'd be nice. Alright. It's on me. It's on me. Do you want some help picking things up, though? Sure, yeah. I mean, kind of get enough for a bunch of people, right? I mean, I want to make sure there's enough for everybody.

Clara will speak up. I think I might go try to figure out what this other drow is doing. Hmm. Fair. By herself, or? She'll smile at Elorath. You're welcome to join me. And she'll look back to Aveline and Efni, too. I just want to make sure that he's not causing too much trouble. Aveline will nod. I'll help. Me, too. So, sounds like- Split the party! Yeah, let's do it! What could go wrong? Oh boy. I mean, we're in town. Yeah! Yeah, yeah. Nothing bad ever happened in town. Sure, no, it'll be fun. Ever. Now, it sounds like Merrick and Efni are going to go pick up ingredients and prepare a lovely dinner like for your last night before you head out on the road again.

Aveline, Clara, and Elorath are looking for that drow. Now, let's start with Merrick and Efni. Merrick, what were you trying to prepare here? What was the ingredients list? Well, what Merrick would like to do is create a large batch of what in our world would be called coq au vin, which is a chicken basically simmered in wine, served over either basically sort of egg noodles. And this would be something that would be easy to make a lot of for a lot of people, sort of basically it's just, you know, like make a big thing of chicken, soaking in wine and let it boil and boil and boil and boil and then make noodles.

And then it could be basically the kind of thing where it's like you come up with your plate, it's like, you know, slop and then boom. But it's still a really delicious, delicious type dish. Gotcha. So that's basically it. There would be some whatever would be the equivalent of some green beans or something like that, that he would he would saute with almonds, slivered almonds and balsamic reduction. And you're trying to make enough for the party or the party and people at the temple? Party and people at the temple. Gotcha. OK, sweet. So so having I'm assuming that at the temple he would have probably sniffed out just out of sheer habit, kind of like what their cooking situation is, you know, like what their deal is, just to make sure he would he would sort of get the right amount for what could be done in a kitchen there.

Right. And kind of probably has an eye for about how many people would be around the temple. So it's not like for a ring out the bells and bring everybody from town there. It's just more like it's just something for everyone that's at the temple. Who's been so since everybody's been so nice and they've helped us so much. Right. And they probably eat fairly Spartan at the temple. Like it's not they're they probably don't feast too often. Yeah, this is not quite feast level, but more like like a nice surprise of like a big hearty meal. Right. So you're probably getting like 10 golden ingredients.

Like it's it's like there's a it's probably a lot like it's a it's a good amount. And yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, OK. And oh, and and some and he's going to pick up several bottles of of some sort of I want to say wine, but that's just my go to. But something like a like a sweet wine, right? Something that's a little bit special for an occasion. Right. Something celebratory or something. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Maybe something with some bubbles in it. Yeah. So while you guys are working on that, let's catch up with Clara, Evelyn and Ella Rath here. Do me a favor and roll a flat D 20 for me, Clara.

OK. Oh, and eight. So it's not going to take too much effort because. Probably as far as you knew, you were the only drought in town, this is a pretty it's just out of the way for for drought. This this particular location, it's in direct sunlight constantly. It's it's an Aladdin run city. There's no love lost between the Aladdin and either elves or especially drought. So, yeah, it's just not a place that that drought would probably frequent. But there is another drought in town, and I would say after about an hour of searching, you are going to find her.

In in the golden circle, actually. Did we ask people or did we just kind of wander until we found her? I'm imagining you asked like you're like pounding the pavement trying to look. It's like, hey, have you heard? Because because the way the way the council the councilman was speaking was, it's like, oh, I've already heard about that. So something's going on in town with this person. So do we have any clue, like because we ask people and stuff, do we know what this drought did to like? Yes. Okay. Essentially, she has been not harassing people, but she has been questioning.

A lot of people just kind of stopping people, specifically in bars, back alleys, that type of thing. And she is clearly looking for someone. And she has been questioning people right and left. She's she's new in town, probably been here for, you know, three, four days, something like that. But definitely searching for someone. And you would find her in the bar all the way in the back, like the I'm figuring this is dusk, right? So this this bar is very well lit during the day. At night, they just kind of have lanterns going and stuff like that. And this is going to be a fairly darker portion of the darkest portion of the bar that she could find and just kind of squirreled away, feet kicked up on the table, sitting back with a drink.

Okay. I feel like after they've done some questioning and they kind of figured out what this drought wanted, Clara kind of would have turned to the group at some point to say, like, it sounds like she needs help. Do you guys want to find her so we can help her so that she stays out of trouble? That kind of thing? Sure. Evelyn would say yes. Because, like, in her head, she kind of already knew the drought probably wasn't actually causing trouble, but she's a little bit worried for their safety because, like, she has a group. And you guys have already stood up for her once, like she knows that no one's going to, you know, do what those mean guys did in the bar, for instance.

But drought don't have a great history. So in the bar, once they spot this other drought, Clara will just straight up approach her and do a little hail to let her know that she's the one that Clara is speaking to and just say, Hey there, sorry for intruding, but I've heard around town that you're looking for someone. Is there any way I can help? And she'll motion to Evelyn and Elaraf. Four people looking is probably better than one. She's going to sort of regard Clara and the party, and then she's going to give this almost a sarcastic, like, half bow.

And while she does, she's going to take her feet off the table and use her foot to slide out a chair on the other side of the table. Have a seat. Clara will sit down. Yeah. So will Evelyn. Yeah. She's going to speak up after everyone takes a seat. Name's Glendra. Glendra? Mm hmm. Clara will bow her head a little bit. I'm Clara. This is Elaraf and this is Evelyn. Little wave. I gotta tell you, that is the nicest response I've gotten so far since getting Dona Call. Appreciate it. She's going to kind of hold up her drink. Clara will kind of smile and shake her head.

Yeah, I can understand that. To be completely honest, the way I heard about you was from one of the council members. Talking about you harassing people. And her tone of voice makes it very clear, like, and I don't believe that. She is going to smile and then when you say it's like, oh, I've heard about you from one of the council members, she's going to smile. When you get to the harassing part, she's going to just roll her eyes. Like, of course. Yeah. To paint a picture, this drow has bright white hair that is pulled back into a ponytail and her skin is actually quite dark.

Like, she's seen a lot of sun. Not wearing a veil or anything like that. Actually dressed in leathers, kind of, you know, kind of lightly dressed for the area and being a drow. I've been inquiring around town. It's for my employer. But I haven't threatened anybody yet. And she's kind of smiling like the yet is supposed to be a joke. May I ask who your employer is? She is going to stare. There's going to be a beat of silence staring at Clara. You mind if I ask who you are first? I don't usually divulge the name of my employers. Clara will shrug and go, that's fair.

I'm just a part of an adventuring party that's been helping out around town recently. We're actually taking off tomorrow. When I heard you were having trouble, I was a little bit worried because I've already been in a few interactions that weren't so great. I didn't want things to go poorly for you. Or for anyone in the town. Again, like a kind of a sheepish smile. Trust me, my reputation is worse than it deserves to be. I'm sure. She's going to take out this piece of paper from her pocket. As long as you're here. If I show you some names, do you mind telling me if they ring a bell?

Because I got to tell you, the trails run pretty cold so far. Clara will just nod. So there are going to be several names on this sheet of paper, some of which are crossed off. Oh no. The three that are not crossed off are Dagon Arkanscape, Breland Galbok, and Cauldron Halic. Oh no. I have to not be meta. I don't know that she's an assassin. The crossed off, I immediately assumed. Errol of Grimness crossed off. Oh no. Tessia Grimness crossed off. There's a few that are not... What? How did that happen? Yikes. I thought she had just lost someone. Damn. Well, I think we can safely say we don't know them.

Yeah, that's, I'm like, well, at least I don't know any of them. So wait, do any, I know Clara doesn't because she wasn't even in arc one, but Alerath, Aveland, these names ring a bell to either of you. I don't think so. No, I don't think so. Should we roll like a history check or something? I would say for some of the bigger names, it would be the same as rolling history check for own a call. So yeah, please. Oh, that's fair. Nope. History. Bam. Oh shit. Clara knows where they are right now. Yeah, Clara's got it. History check. It's history. I know where they've been.

I can't help this lady. The history check. Definitely. The name Grimnus pops out. That is a, it's a big one. Historically speaking, specifically because you were just talking about the history of own a call and its ties to Brightport and all that. And if you're talking about the houses of Brightport, Tessie Grimnus pops right up. Heirlove Grimnus would pop up right after that. So you would, I'd say with that, that is a, that is a crit. You would know who Tessie is, who Heirlove is and what their tie to at least this city would be. Not necessarily why this person would be looking for them.

Sounds like she already found them. What about the names that aren't crossed off? The names Dagon would probably ring a bell just because you've been in own a call now for a while. There is an Arkinscape. There are, there's an Arkinscape on the council. And you've heard stories, Po told you a story about the gate being used recently. So that would definitely, I wouldn't say that Braelyn or Keldon would really ring any bells. Right. I would say like Clara would probably kind of based on the way the list is laid out, like it's not meta for Clara herself to make assumptions, right?

No, I wouldn't say so. Okay. So she's going to kind of go through the names really quickly. And then she's going to look over at Elarath and Aveline to see if they are making the same assumptions. Probably not. Aveline is just looking down this list like, hmm, okay, names. All right. And she'll set the list back on the table and pass it over to Glendra. Unfortunately, it looks like the only two names I really recognize have already been found. I do know there's an Arkinscape on the council, but I don't believe that it's a Dagon Arkinscape. Yeah, partway through you telling her that she's going to kind of curl up her mouth and start shaking her head.

Yeah, I'm looking for a different one. I got excited, too. And she's going to look down at the list again. This is a bigger pain than I thought it was going to be. Well, we can help ask around if you'd like. She would perk up. Yeah, that would be amazing. Thank you. I feel as though I have just about exhausted this city, though. Last I heard, they were traveling as a group and headed here. So either the city's protecting them for some reason and she did that for some reason. She's going to sort of quickly backpedal for some reason, or they headed out of the city well before I got here.

Well, I think the city would only protect the Aladrin one. It doesn't sound like those other two names are Aladrin, so more than likely they're not here. And she's going to pause and think about it for a second, then look at the group as a whole. Is it just you three traveling together? We have two others. And she's going to perk up again. Really? Would you mind if I picked their brain and maybe I could get a lead or two? Aladrin kind of shrugs. Yeah, Clara will say, of course, we're staying at the at the temple. You can visit us later tonight. And she is going to open palm, kind of like slam down on the table.

Not hard, just like as a celebratory. It's like, fantastic. And this big, toothy grin, like Cheshire Cat grin. I'll see you later tonight, then. And if you hurry, there might be food there for you. I think it's so. OK, as they're leaving, they say goodbye and everything and do a little bow, walk out. Once they are out of the bar, Clara is going to immediately go, we are not asking around. Let's go back to the temple. OK. Is that a thing that would raise suspicion with either Aveline or Elorath? Would it be like, OK, why the 180? Yeah, kind of, yeah. But I got the sense like, I'll tell you when we get to the temple.

Right. OK. So let's say about a half hour passes and Merrick and Efini are, I'm imagining, like cooking, like preparing stuff. And the rest of the group joins them at the temple. Hey, Merrick, I invited an assassin to come and join dinner. I was trying to make a dangerous friend. Clara sits down and we need to have a talk. Oh, man. Sometimes the stereotypes are true. What do you guys want from me? But no, for real, Clara would probably do that. Like she would bring everyone into the kitchen to talk that out. Oh. Because Merrick needs a heads up. And so does Efini, I believe.

But I think she probably thinks that if Aveline didn't know the names, Efini won't know the names. Did you want to have a conversation with Merrick before we get to that, though? So we can we can do that. Yeah, can do. Yeah, I mean, yeah. For the episode, let's do this. You guys go ahead. We're walking home. You guys have a conversation. So I would say about a half hour is going to pass and Aveline, Clara and Elorath are on their way back to the temple. I would say Merrick and Efini have already returned with just a fistful of ingredients, bushels of stuff.

And they've probably been cooking for a little bit. So this place is smelling pretty good. You got your your reductions and your and your and your and your other cooking show terminology going. And let me mention, let me there's a lot of pearl onions. There's a lot of chopping going on. There's carrots, there's celery, there's mushrooms, garlic. All that's got to be. So that's that's Merrick's going to just put Efini to work immediately, like start chopping. Let's do it. Yes, sir. So you guys are in this kitchen. Oh, God. I was just going to say Efini would be helping as much as she could.

But she's also kind of she's watching Merrick a lot because she doesn't know very much about preparing food at all. So she's like really trying to learn at the same time. So I think you guys have been you guys have been working in here and just just just whipping stuff up, kind of, you know, just prepping stuff for for quite a bit. I think probably like companionable silence for a while, just sort of concentrate on things and maybe be able to get yelled at. She's not chopped something up right. Possibly. No, no, no. Merrick is definitely not in that mode.

He's more in like whistling while you work mode, like this will be fun. He's not being a boss. In fact, I think it's probably a relief that he's not doing this for any reason other than just to help be nice. Right. Anyway, no worries on that. But yeah, after a little while, she'd probably kind of, well, she's still doing, you know, chopping things, mixing things, doing whatever she'd she'd kind of just pause briefly and just glance at Merrick and just say like, Hey, Merrick, how are you doing? Are you doing OK? Merrick is going to, he's not going to catch on yet.

So he's going to go, yeah, fine. No, totally cool. Yeah. Yeah. Take this like he's going to whatever with the with ingredients or something like that. So he's not catching on. Yeah. She'll take it from him and like continue what she's doing. But and pause from it and just say, I know you're good right now. I know you like doing this kind of thing. I mean, are you OK after kaluna? That's got to be rough. I just want to check in that you're doing OK. Merrick's going to take a few seconds to sort of make sure that everything is is simmering away without having to have any attention on it.

So it'll probably take a few seconds, like a pretty long pause. And it'll he'll do a big sigh out. It'll turn. I imagine he's sort of like wiping his hands on some sort of towel or apron or something. I'll be honest, I haven't kind of not been thinking about it. Yeah, I'm kind of pretending it's not happening. She'll smile a little at that and say, yeah, I, I get that. I tend to do the same thing myself, which is I guess why I'm a little concerned about you. I just I just wanted to check in. I just wanted to let you know that. And just that I'm here if you want to talk or rant, vent, anything you need, you know.

I know we're fairly new friends, but whatever you need right here. His shoulders are going to sort of soften. He'll say, I really, really, I really appreciate it. And I also really need it. I'll be honest. I've I don't know a lot of you very well. And I know I keep it to myself a little bit. And I know I've been probably to all of you a little erratic for a bit. And I know that he's kind of just dumping it out now. Right. So it's like somebody like open the door. He's like, OK, well, in that case, he's he's just looking guilty. And this is just mostly he's guilty about himself to himself.

But he's he's got an ear. So he'll just say, I don't know. I've. I haven't really known how to feel comfortable in my own skin for a little while. And I don't know the whole this whole scenario. Right. I'm sort of deep into what I'm doing. And Kaluna pulls me back out into doing something fun and exciting. And and then it just becomes dangerous. And then now Kaluna is gone. Maybe for good. And I'm realizing that I I'm a bliss. I don't really know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't know what I'm doing anywhere. And it's kind of a weird feeling.

And I don't know how to sit with that. And he's just going to sort of be lost in thought for a few seconds and just sort of then just look back at Efani and nod, you know, like, yeah, that's it. She'll let him get all that off and off his chest and kind of look at him and nod. And yeah, I think we're all a little aimless at the moment. We're all kind of fumbling along a little bit, all trying to find our way, kind of trying to make sense of life in general. And I hope I really hope that Kaluna isn't gone for good. I hope that you two get to see each other again.

I really do. And I know I know it's not always easy being game-less and fumbling along. But and even though you don't we don't know each other that well yet, you have company. You can rely on those. I promise you that we can try and make sense of things together. He's going to have a big smile. It's almost like he's defeated in his confusion, right? His confusion has been sort of knocked out of him for a minute. He's going to smile and say, that actually sounds pretty good. I think I need a friend and maybe more than one. So maybe this is sad on one side for me, but on the other hand, maybe this is exactly what needed to happen.

Not that not that I would ever want to have Kaluna gone, gone. But maybe I needed to find out who I am without Kaluna and without throwing myself in a basement in a kitchen for a couple of years. So. So thanks. No problem. Anytime. And he's going to start flipping chickens over with whatever tongs he has. And he's going to say and, you know, he's not looking anymore. He's actually like looking at the chickens, but he's going to say. And honestly, the most important thing right now is that those carrots aren't going to cut themselves. Of course, that sorry, sir.

Right back to it. And you like give a little salute and grin. He's not even gonna look. Yeah, he's not going to look. But in the in the movie, you know that he starts to smile. So I would say that while you guys are cooking, the rest of the group is going to get back to the temple. And I had imagined there's some sort of exposition. Actually, you know what? It'd be funnier. So Clara did not tell Elarath and Avalon on the way home why she said they're not going to look, but she'll tell them once they're in the kitchen. And I imagine she just kind of walk in clearly a little bit frazzled, like, shit, shit, shit.

And then cooking is a loud thing. So maybe she'll like clap her hands to kind of get a little bit of attention and just go. All right. We have a problem. Another one already. Remember that draw that I went to go look for? And she'll bring her hand up to her head very much the traditional face palm. She's an assassin. What was she really? How could you tell? She had a list of names and three of them were crossed off. I just assumed she found them. I fully know we are making a lot of assumptions here, but in game, Clara's like, fuck, like that's character separate.

So good. OK, so getting this straight, you sort out this person and they're an assassin. I think so. I don't have enough to accuse her of anything. And even if she is an assassin, I mean, that's a perfectly legitimate job opportunity for some people. Yeah, Merrick's going to he's just not going to say anything, but he's going to be there's going to be a little bit of a panic in his eyes. Yeah, likewise. Do those sound familiar? I would say Efni being kind of a storyteller, history buff, that type of thing. Dagon might just being in town. And correct me if I'm wrong, I picture Efni being the sort of character that kind of soaks up local history, that type of thing.

Oh, definitely. OK, so that's what I've gotten so far. So Dagon, definitely. The other two, probably not. But obviously for Merrick. Right. This is a good question. So Merrick's going to sort of do a quick sweep. And I would imagine he would get the impression that nobody else really knew this group as a group other than Dagon, which is sort of a different story. Right. OK. Yep. So after doing a little bit of math in his head, he's going to say, nope. Doesn't sound familiar to me. Nope. Could you do me a favor, sir? Could you roll a bluff check? I suppose I can.

Wait, where's bluff? What do I do? Oh, there is no bluff anymore. Deception. Sorry. Deception. Deception. My bad. Could you roll a deception check? I don't know words. It's a fancy bluff. I'm no thesaurus. Yeah. I'm no ethany. That used to be heard earlier. Ooh. All right. OK, that was a five. Yes. All right, guys. Who's calling him out? You want to try that again, Merrick? Yeah, I mean, the Dagon guy. Po mentioned him. We know about him and the whole city thing, right? That's all he's saying. He's just like, yeah, the Dagon guy, right? Yeah. Yeah, and that's kind of what I know.

I know of him from stories. I'm getting the feeling there might be something more from you, Merrick. You gonna write that novel, Brian? Yeah, I mean, I, I, I met Dagon once a long time ago. It was on the it was in the West. Like, it's been like years now. Saw him again up north at one point. But other than that, I don't have anything to report. He's trying to keep this. He's realizing the less they know, the better off. So he is trying to he's trying to deflect this a little bit. Yeah. Could I roll an insight check to see if I realize that that's what he's doing?

Well, OK, this. OK, so deception would basically be against your passive insight. And I feel like that's five isn't going to beat anything. Right. So like we know he's lying, but can I roll insight to see that he's trying to protect us? The reason for his line? I'd say yes. It'd have to be like fairly high just because that's a lot to pick out. But yeah. Yeah. Let's see. This probably won't work. Let's go. Yeah, that's I think definitely when this started, I think him telling it's like, what? No, I haven't heard of him. You're suspicious. Like, it's very. You know, I don't know.

Your friends are yours. I don't know. I he just starts spontaneously sweating like it's only heard a few of Raylan's songs. What do you mean? I barely know the guy. But yeah, I think that's how it started. But then he starts to he starts to explain it a bit. You're like, OK, like you're probably getting the feeling that it's that there might be a little bit more to it. But it does explain some of the initial nervousness or or. Yeah. Efren, do you want to continue questioning? I bet you could break him to be a dick or not to be a dick. Shine shine the lamp right in his face.

Tell him we have evidence and his friends riding him out in the other room right now. I think I think she'd have been looking at him this whole time. I don't think she believes that that's it. I think she thinks there's more. But she doesn't want to keep forcing the issue. She didn't want. Well, she kind of does, but she doesn't want to like upset him or anything. So I think she'll let it drop. Oh, no, he's stressed. Yeah, that's that's that's next. You know that nice thing we just had? Please don't ruin it. Oh, there's going to be a knock at the at the kitchen door, the prepping area and a head is going to poke in.

And it's that drow that drow lady, Glendrup. Oh, lovely. And she's she's going to kind of peer in and then seeing seeing Clara and Elareth and Avalon. Oh, there you are. I hope I'm not interrupting. I I asked where you might be. And they told me the kitchen. I wonder I wonder what she heard already. Fuck. Oh, no. I wonder if that's what that 19 is for. We'll find out. Clara will do a little like halfway and go. These are the other two members of the party that I was telling you about. And she will very, very forwardly, very chipperly reach, reach a hand out to Efony and then Merrick.

Very pleased to meet you. Big smile. Yep. Miracle wiped his hand on his apron as best as he can and pleasure. Yeah, I think he'll do the same. She would pull her hand back and onions. Merrick's going to have whatever big spoon he's using to to stir stuff. He's going to get a little bit on the tip of it and he's going to sort of blow and he's going to say, taste this, taste this. And he's going to sort of push it up. Not rudely, but right. Like, here. No, no, no, no. Go ahead. Taste this. And she'll she'll taste it. And hmm. I have never been a fan of carrots. But that's not bad.

How did he? Merrick's going to look at Efony and say, still got it. Yeah, you do. She is going to she's going to lean up against one of these counters. I don't want to waste your time. You you all seem to be very busy people. And to be honest, I've got a lot of other people to talk to. So she's going to take up this paper here and unfold it and place it on the counter. Do any of these names look familiar to you? I'm sort of sort of on the hunt for a few of them. We found we found the ones that are crossed off. We know right where they are. But if you could help me with any information, the remaining ones, that'd be great.

Merrick's going to look at Efony to like he's trying to avoid it as much as possible. So he's going to be like, check it out. And he's going to turn and continue to cook. Like not in a suspiciously weird way, but just sort of like, yeah, check it out. I mean, I got to I got to keep going here. Right. Don't want anything to stick. Yeah. Efony will pause for a minute, look at Merrick like, are you leaving me with this? Thanks. She'll glance at the piece of paper and the names and probably take longer than necessary. Glancing at the piece of paper. But then after a while, glance at this lady and just say, there's one name on there that's familiar, but from storybooks, just from tales that I know.

Sorry, I don't know any of these people. Well, that is a shame. What about you? And she's going to look to Merrick. Oh, yeah. Hang on a second. He's going to stir, stir, turn, turn, dump something in, you know, dump some mushrooms in or something like that. And then he's going to stir, stir, stir, whoop. And he's going to he's going to, you know, wipe his hands on a towel and throw it down on the table thing. And he's going to sort of like look over it almost like he has glasses. And he's got to like do the like the down his nose, like, OK, hang on. Let me I'm I'm far sighted, like that kind of thing, like like he can't quite read it.

He's going to go, huh? She is looking at you the entire time, like not breaking her gaze, like it's friendly, but it's very much like I got time. Yeah, he's going to go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's going to tap on it. He's going to go the this is the Aladrin guy, right? The guy, the guy who helped make this place, the whole city thing. Right. Right. He's going to look around at the group like he's like, I got that right. Right. Right. He's the guy that read tales about. Yeah. No, I know his name. I mean, I don't know where he is, but I recognize that. Is that what you're saying?

Her smile is going to get a little bigger and she's going to lean in that. That's right. Yeah. I've actually been these three and she's she's going to she's going to point him out. I've I've been looking for quite some time and it is getting frustrating. I can't tell you. Town after town. They just they seem to be one step ahead. So you have no idea where they could possibly be because you're one of the first people who who who actually might might know this person. I most people have no idea who I'm talking about. Oh, no. I mean, I know his name, right? Because that's the whole city of the Aladrin thing.

But I mean, I don't know. I don't know any of these names. Oh, you haven't met him. You know, I was saying to the these these guys just a little while ago that I think I actually met him way back. It's been years, but like met him way back over, like Overwatch time, you know, like somewhere over in that direction. Good looking guy. I remember that. But I don't I don't know him. You know. Do you mind if I ask what what you were doing the the time you cross paths? It might help me to figure out motivations, that type of thing. Oh, you know, it's been a long time.

I just remember that there were that, you know, I was in a group. We were on that side of the world, you know, and kind of doing our thing. And I remember that. Yeah. Now I remember he was with people and that. So it's sort of like we crossed paths at some point. But it was just like one of those things where you sort of like meet on the street or meet in the pub. And I don't even remember where it was. But I remember, like I said, I remember good looking dude, you know, like and that that struck me because there's not a whole lot of Aladrin and around.

I mean, you know, now there is, of course. But at the time it was pretty, pretty rare. Right. You know, that's why I thought this was going to be fairly easy, because I mean, one lone Aladrin should stick out. Right. But I swear to you, town after town, they they have so little information on this guy. So you didn't happen to travel together. This was just a paths crossing thing. Yeah. I mean, I can't even say if I I think I shook his hand, maybe, you know, but that's about it. For that, could you do me a favor and roll a bluff check? For that. That's a pretty high seven.

It's out of ten, right? She's going to stare at at Merrick for a while. Right. OK. Well, again, I don't want to take up too much of your time. Do you mind if I tell you why I'm looking for these people? It might help you. It might help jog something. I honestly feel free, but I got to get back to cooking because I've got a I've got a lot of things that are about to burn here. So, you know, if you guys want to keep talking, that's fantastic. But if you don't mind, I'm going to say farewell for the moment. Oh, of course. Again, I appreciate all of your help. It's it's a lot friendlier than what I've encountered so far in the city.

I'm just going to tell the group while I'm here. I'm working for a woman in Brightport. And this this group took a job from her and they they they had reached an agreement to deliver a very rare weapon. We're talking once in a lifetime stuff here. And this was on an intercontinental voyage. And darndest thing, not only did they not deliver the weapon, like they said they were going to, they butchered her associates that were that were on the ship with them and then supposedly took the weapon and ran. It's some it's a huge problem, as you can imagine. My employer is pretty peeved.

So, yeah, sent me out looking for him. And again, we found we found a few of them, but these last few have avoided me thus far. It is it's a problem. Clara's gonna speak up. Really, because that one name Tessia, right? Isn't she just the leader of one of the Brightport houses? That she is. We had it on good authority that this group was working with her and probably set the entire thing in motion, probably outbid my employer and had the group betray her. It's it's a real shame, but it happens all the time in Brightport. And it's what keeps people like me in business.

People need to be found all the time. So you just find people? She is going to she's going to look deadpan at Ella. That's my job. OK. Go for it. Totally telling the truth, guys. That's a six. There is a there is a calmness, a coolness to this person that the the the the way they're presenting it. It's so flatly. It's like, yeah, just just found them. Brianna wants to believe this is a misunderstanding. But Clara knows she's made a dangerous friend who probably was listening to our conversation before she came in. She's going to take the paper back and she's going to push it back toward Clara and Ella Rath and Avalland and she's going to start pointing at names.

And she's going to she's going to point to Errolov and Tessia. Those two were the easiest right there in Brightport. Down the street. They must have been easy to find and talk to. It's understandable. And she's going to she's going to brighten up like it's exceptionally easy. They they were in hiding and we thought they may have skipped town, but no right there in the city. And then she's going to she's going to point down the she's going to point down the list to a gratitude. That one. That one's a little more tricky. We think he's in the city, but very uncharacteristically laying low, if so.

But it's only a matter of time. Can I ruin the mood for just a second? Oh, man, if only she were subscribed to us over on Patreon and her latest name in society. Hate myself. So, yeah, all the ones crossed off. We found them. Know where they are. Can I so just for color in this scene, basically, basically Merrick keeps hearing a lot of things he knows and a lot of names. And he is trying his damnedest. He's like super concentrated cooking now. Like he's like the more he hears these names, the more he's just like cooking chicken, cooking with lots of wine.

Right. So he's like stealing himself to basically not have a reaction of just right. He's not just like, yeah, whatever. Well, let's let's talk about something else while you're doing that, because that does remind me of a thing. I wrote a D4 earlier. Now, if everyone out there remembers Merrick's lycanthropy, there's a mechanic we have in place. Think of think of Merrick wolfing out as 20 hit points. Right. So right now, take four of those away. You're down to 16. Could you do me a favor and roll another D4 for me? Because this is a high pressure situation.

Yeah, that's kind of why I brought it up. I don't want to make this happen, but it kind of wouldn't be right otherwise. OK, that's a one. OK, so take five away. You got 15 left. So at zero, you wolf out. You can't control it. But I'd say right about now there's like a little like little beads of sweat, maybe just kind of like, oh, shit. Just just this is a this is a pretty high pressure situation. Yeah. I would say after a little bit, Glendora is going to kind of get the hint that you're you're maybe this is she's just mining an empty vein here. Just just this isn't this isn't happening.

Well, I will let you good people go for the evening. If you do have any information, I'll be in town for another couple of days, but probably going to be moving on after that. And probably leave that hanging in the air just to just to just to see if anybody just like you sure nothing. Yeah. America's as far as America's concerned, she's already gone. Right. Clara will kind of because she's the one who caused this. She'll just go, well, like I said, we are leaving tomorrow, but we'll ask around for you. And if we get any information that you weren't able to get, you know, we'll send it your way.

Very much appreciated. Thank you. And she's going to she's going to look over to Merrick. Good luck with your meal. Hey, thanks. Would you like something to go? It's almost done. We're almost done here. So if you'd like to take something with you, I'd be very happy for you to have something. Oh, my goodness. Helen nods because he promised here would be food. Right. You showed up too early. What are you doing? Yeah, I think I'm fine. But yeah, I might pop back in within the next couple of days just to just to follow up. But yeah, no. You guys enjoy your meal. And she would take her leave of the group.

See ya. Clara is just going to like lean back against the wall and then slowly slide down. Elbows on knees, hands around head. Just a long breath out. Merrick still stirring his back is to everybody else. He's going to say. I like your friend. Clara will say, Elarath. What? What? Never let me do anything again. No. You talk better than me. You're going to have to do something. But she'll put like an arm around her like they're there. Oh, we're almost level now. Just that's true. I can look her in the eye. Well, that was the tensest scene. I seriously felt like I was sitting at the table with a really waspy family.

Like everyone was talking, but no one was saying what they're actually saying. Like in a really obvious way. So I'm Southern. I can do this all day. I would say that this this meal is going to probably go over like gangbusters, man. Like they don't again, they don't feast here too often. So they would be extremely thankful of you preparing some stuff and kind of kind of catering for them. Do you guys want to skip ahead to to the journey or is there anything you guys would like to talk about first? I wanted to just quickly throw in that while while we're having this meal, Efni would want to just like subtly just speak to some of the people that work at the temple.

Just just like just chat to them a little bit. Like, how long have you lived here? How long have you been at the temple? Like just that kind of thing. Just she's kind of like gathering information, just kind of trying to do it subtly, just while while this is happening. Gotcha. Nice. And one last thing she would also want to she wants to put a donation into the box at the temple. She's been feeling bad that she hadn't done it before, but couldn't really afford it. So she's going to do it now. Oh, how much, if I may ask? She's going to put she's actually going to put the 50 gold in.

Holy mackerel. Fuck. Marek puts his hand in and takes some of that back out. How dare you put that back at once? He does not do that, for the record. If we're going to like cut ahead to the like journey, like leaving, I think at some point Elorath would want to talk to the, oh, the head cleric lady. Basis. Basis. I was going to say, whose name escapes me at the moment? Because I'm a good player. And just, you know, give her a hug and probably try to give her a heads up about Glendra in case she comes back. Because I think she said she would be checking back in in a few days.

So just be like, hey, that lady was probably an assassin. Um, sorry. Hey, we invited an assassin into your home. It's kind of like a vampire. Anyway, peace out. We'll be leaving tomorrow. Bye. You know, and just, you know, thank her again for everything she did and... She doesn't look that worried. I wouldn't say that it's that it's yeah, it's not something that she said. Well, I'm sure they don't wish violence on any of us. Everything's going to be fine. Thank you. And yeah. Big ol' hug. Look at all that gold. That was so fun. Yeah, just to just to clarify, you guys received 100 each and then 50 each because it's 250 to take the...

Yeah, so everything's everything should be good now. Cool. I watched the number go up and I was like, yeah, that's satisfying as shit. So those gifts you watch for a while just because they're... Anybody else want to do anything before leaving? Kind of. Uh, is there this is the this is the post dinner, you know, post dinner drink around a fireplace somewhere type thing. If there's any way that that Merrick could kind of grab the whole group. I don't see where that would be hard. Well, I just make sure that everybody was, you know, unless everybody was like going to sleep or some shit.

But he's he's going to like kind of be grudgingly be like, OK, hey, everybody, I need to I need to get everybody here for a second. OK, so we're going to be leaving tomorrow. We're going to be heading out with Poe. We're going to be making our way up to Brightport. Beyond that, I feel like if we're going to have some new beginnings here, he's going to look at Efani because of their conversation earlier. I feel like there's some things that I need to make sure you're aware of. This is this isn't easy and this isn't going to be nice. But I and I understand whatever your reactions are.

And he's going to take out the envelope that Poe gave and he's going to sort of throw it down on whatever sort of coffee table type thing is around. And just basically just he's just daring somebody to open it. Efani will look at him and then reach forward and open it up. And read it. I would imagine maybe Efani would I don't know if you're going to read it out loud to everybody or anything, but. She probably she probably just read it to herself and then look up sort of inquiringly that Maric. She wouldn't fully understand what it meant, so she'd just be looking, waiting.

Yeah, well. So this is what Poe gave earlier, right? And. I don't want this to be a thing that I hide from friends. And right now, you're my friends, you are my only friends, and that means something. He's going to take that piece of paper back from Efani and say. This is a this is a little quest. That pose. Showing off to us, showing off to me in particular. There's a there's somebody that studies disease and curses up at Uminyero. And I don't want to make this more dramatic than it's supposed to be, but I don't feel like this is something that I can hide.

I've tried to do that before. But I do kind of have a little bit of something and. I should let you all know that when I get really, really stressed, that I can kind of become pretty violent. And some of you knew that because of me being. Who I was in the restaurant, and I'm sure you could say violent is one thing when you're yelling, but I'm talking about having a little bit of a problem. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make this longer than it is. Fuck it. I for the longest time have been a little bit kind of a werewolf of in a way. And he's just going to sit back.

Clara's eyes are going to like bug out and she's going to look from Merrick to the note back to America. She doesn't know what's on the note because Efni read that kind of a werewolf. It's the kind of thing that just think of it as a bad temper that comes out every once in a while. But the good news is that I've got it completely under control, like there's not an issue at all. And you could ask a little if Kaluna were here, you know, this is not a problem. This is a something that I've I've I've got completely managed. I have my ways. Can we ask how you're managing it?

How are you keeping it under control? Well, I cook, I cook. It's meditative. It right. And I meditate, I actually meditate. There's some stuff that I take now and again. It's like a little bit of a medicine that kind of just keeps everything calm. But the truth is, is that it's it's not even a thing. I say this. It's not a drama. It's not like that's why I'm just I'm just coming out with it. Right. I don't want this to be a thing. It's just no, I got to I just got to keep my cool. Right. And it's not going to be an issue. And that's all I just want to make sure that it's not a thing.

You know, it's I don't want anybody to like find out about it and then feel like I was keeping a secret. It's just more like something that just never came up. Right. But, you know, kind of feel like we should we should all be honest with each other, right? Aflan is actually crossing his arms and squinting his eyes for some reason. He doesn't quite believe you. You just can't believe it. Like, you can't believe. Don't test. You just can't see it in Merrick for some reason. If there's like a prolonged silence for a little bit, Clara is going to gather herself.

I'm really glad you told us. Merrick's like, like a big sigh. Like, oh, thank God. What we need to do is figure out how we're going to travel and what will happen if we're ever attacked. And she's going to kind of look at Merrick like, have you thought about that at all? Well, I, I know that, look, it hasn't been a thing for a long, long time. I, I know it's there because I can feel it. Right. There was a time whenever it wasn't there. And that's a longer story. But I could feel that it wasn't there. I know it's there now. But honestly, it just feels natural.

It feels normal to me. It's all OK. And it's not going to be the kind of thing that that pops up. Nobody here is in danger. It's not like that. It's just, you know, if if something really bad happened or if I got super, super stressed, I just want everybody to know to get a run, basically. Or if if you know what's going to happen, point me in a certain direction and then go the other way. I feel like that was like the awkward chuckle actually did go through the room. Yeah. Like in those high stress situations where it's like any joke will make everyone in the room laugh.

I think the irony here would be that Merrick is so stressed about telling them about being a werewolf that he like wolfs out. Oh no. It's not that bad. I wanted to wait, but could you roll one more d4 for me, please? Sure. Sure. No, that's not a problem. It's no problem. He's cool. It's fine. He's fine. He's cool. It's really hard to roll a 15 on a d4. Yeah. That's all. That's two. That's all. Just just don't let me interrupt. That's it. That's it. So like when you are a wolf, do you know like who's your friend and who's not in the movie? Merrick looks up like he's lost in thought and then it clips back to like Keluna and Merrick in the hallway.

Right. And then it comes back to him and he goes, pretty much. But it's Jack. No, he's pretty much. But honestly, it's not the kind of thing we can guarantee. So there's a part of me that feels like this needs to go away. Of course, there's also a part of me that feels like this is who I am, but I know that that makes everybody around me not 100 percent safe at any given time. So I don't know. That's kind of it. I don't understand, Merrick. You were all trapped together under a wagon for hours and you were fine. Is this really an element you have? That's where the meditation comes in handy.

That's where letting everything go comes in handy. But after a while, it chips away. After a while, it gets closer. After a while, it's right underneath the surface. And then after that. Boom. From now on, will you at least tell us when you feel something coming to the surface? Oh, yeah. And that's why I'm telling you now. It's something that you need to be aware of. And honestly. If you don't want to have anything else to do with me, I completely understand. Other things that we could do to help. Could we help you with this? He's going to turn to F&E and and look eager and he's going to say, keep me grounded.

This is what this is what they used to do for me. And he's speaking of kaluna. Keep me here. Keep me present. And. Remind me that I'm not that thing. So if if if we do what's on that paper. Does that mean that you're going to get better? Is that even how you think about it? Like getting better? Like I got better? Yeah, I guess. I mean, this is a long shot and I know Po. Po is a sweetheart, you know, and. Even if there's a one percent chance, I know he's trying to help. I. I would love to be. Just who I am, but I'm going to be honest and he's going to look back at F&E.

I don't know who I am right now. But I know that that's not going to define me anymore. So I'm not in a rush. I'm not looking for this to be what we do. This isn't our thing. But at some point. Maybe maybe I could get your help and he's going to just be looking at everybody. Definitely. Oh, something you want to look into. If it's something you want to look into, you have my support. OK, thank you. All it takes is one person to tell me that you want me to stay away and I'll stay away. Well, if we can make it through a sandstorm in the desert, I think we'll be OK.

Clara will stand up and Pat Merrick very lightly on the back. We'll just be careful. He's going to his body is going to crumble a little bit just from the touch. Not not out of you know, not because I mean, hurt or was bad, but just more like he just isn't letting the tension all out. I think he was probably most worried about Clara saying, well, no, this is not OK. Like, no, forget it. No offense, but no. I think he just. He's going to probably. It's going to just released all of his tension for that to happen. And he's just going to he's I don't know that he's going to sob, but he's probably going to like put his hand, his hands on his face and just be like, oh, thank you.

Thank you, everybody. That's not easy. Oh, and I want everybody to know about this one more thing. And he's going to pull out a silver dagger. And he's going to turn it around so that he's holding the blade and he's going to. To say he's going to sort of be shaking it a little bit, like, you know, looking at it longingly, he's going to say, you know. Koulouna held this for a really long time in case. Well, you know. Something happened. And I trusted them to do what they needed to do. And he's going to look up at Evelyn and he's going to reach out. And he's going to to hold out the the the dagger and say, I.

I need someone like you, Evelyn. He takes the knife and he looks American dead in his eyes and he says. You can trust me, Merrick. I'll always do what I have to do. Merrick's just going to look straight in his eyes and just nod and and he's. His look is sort of like just for real, dude, like. He's not happy about it. He's just like, yeah, no, do it. Evelyn nods solemnly. Oh, OK. It's weird to feel like I've had a lot of holes to fill and I finally feel like. I don't think there's anything else that you don't you don't know about me. That's kind of that's kind of who I am.

So I just want you to know that I've got your backs and I'll do anything there is for my friends. I'll do anything for you, too. You know that. Thanks. Oh, and if we ever go to Obinero, I have an ex-girlfriend, so just please. What? Just please be cool. I think that's it. I'll do share. No, no, no, that's it. That's everything there is to know about me. We've got to get packed for tomorrow. And so he's going to stand up like, well, you can't just leave. Where are you going? Guys, guys, don't stress him out. Man, I'm glad I didn't make a serious mistake during cooking.

Guys, I feel like it's a pretty good time for us to stop for the day. Oh, so good. Yeah. The next time we pick things up, you guys are going to be hitting the road. And I guess it gives you a little time to talk about exactly what your destination is. That was lovely. I hope that was okay. Sorry for inviting an assassin for dinner. I didn't mean to. We hope you enjoyed that episode of Dungeons of Randomness. And if you want to give us a financial token of your appreciation, we can supply you guys with some bonus content over on our Patreon page at patreon.com/dandr Over there, you'll be able to hook up with our Discord server, which is a fun, active place with users from all over the world who love Dungeons & Dragons and D&R as much as you do.

Beyond that, there are also bonus behind the scenes clips, character chats with players, and even a chance to play creatures from Theria on your own table with the bestiary. Speaking of character chats, Jason sat down with Jane from the episode you just listened to, and here's a clip of their chat. Sometimes on our show, I've had people come to me and it's like, I want to play this, but I don't want to be compared to X. So, you know, I want to play a paladin, but I don't want to be compared to Una. They feel like that class has been so synonymous with that character that they kind of feel like they can't do that in a different way.

Did you feel that like you were going to be compared to Duncan or Brelyn? Yeah, I don't know if I ever, I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but yeah, it worried me a lot that I was going to be compared to, because I love Duncan, I love Brelyn. They're both excellent characters. So yeah, there was a huge worry of that and I kind of beat myself up about it a bit early days because the nerves were bigger, a bigger thing for me than I thought they were going to be. So it kind of, it has definitely taken me quite a while to get into doing things, into DNR, into improv, into reacting.

And a lot of the, like, early days I'd kind of beat myself up, but I'm not being bardic enough, I'm not being like a bard at all. Just terrible. But then kind of, I know I chatted with you guys, I know I chatted with Bre at one point, and so Ethne kind of went down kind of a bit of a different path, a bit more kind of like the bookish type bard. And kind of eventually I kind of thought, yeah, not all bards are the same, not every character has to play the same. I'm playing it this way for now because this is what I can do right now. So I eventually kind of became comfortable with that and, you know, like, this bard is this way, but my bard is this way, and that's how it's going to be.

And kind of became comfortable with that in the end. If that interests you, or you would like to toss some spare change at us to help keep the lights on here at DNR, head on over to our Patreon page at patreon.com/dandr. And we'll meet you there! See you lovely folks next week!